Settle UpSettle Down
by riceisnice
Summary: Cappie can't seem to figure out if he needs Rebecca to get over Casey or Casey to get over Rebecca.
1. Whiskey River, Take My Mind

**_Settle Down, Settle Up_**

I don't own these characters and neither do you

I'll write another chapter if you guys like it. If not, I'll scrap it and go with a different storyline.

** "To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down." - Woody Allen, Love and Death**

Cappie hated Rebecca Logan from the moment he saw her. She seemed to him to be a female version of Evan, rich and spolied. A real bitch. She wore pearls and sweaters and pastels. So, it wasn't hard at all to join Casey in her crusade against Rebecca. His hate for her came from a place of not only hate for Evan, but love for Casey. His feelings for Casey lay inside him like fire. It hurt less if he directed that burning away from the angst-ridden romance between them and more towards a mutual hate for Rebecca. He relished every mean thing Casey said about Rebecca partly because she relished everything Casey said period, but partly because as she spoke, it seemed as though she was not only chiding Rebecca, but everything she represented. Getting ahead, using people, polos. All these represented things that Casey had left Cappie for.They all represented something which might make her take him back.

He really needed to stop doing that. Everything he though about seemed to come back to Casey and a weak attempt at convincing himself that they had a future together. This snapped Cappie back into reality. He was sitting on a couch at the Kappa Tau, next to a large brown stain that looked new. He decided to get up and walk into the kitchen before he could find out what it was. As he walked through the hall, surrounded by people he loved and people he'd love to know, he drifted out of his brooding and into an elated manic state that people had come to expect from him at these crazy parties. When he reached the kitchen, he quickly grabbed an old cup from sink and rinsed it out since there were no more clean Dixie cups in sight. He opened the fridge and grabbed some of his good whiskey from behind some TV dinners, pouring it generously into some Coke.

"Could I steal some of that?" he heard from behind. He almost dropped the bottle in surprise. The voice sounded nervous and weak, yet somehow sexy.

"Sure. You sound like you need it more than-", he turned and right before him was Rebecca. She looked smaller than he had set her in his head, not nearly as menacing. She wore jeans and a plain white T shirt with pearls, her hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail.

"Thanks. Sorry, I just...well"

"More of a whiskey girl?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. Was he flirting with her? He had, hadn't he? She smiled and tilted her head slightly, pulling away from the energy between them.

"No. I just. I had a terrible day and I think I'm going to have a worse one tomorrow" The way she said it made him want to help her. He handed her the drink he had already made and washed a cup of his own to make another. When he turned back around, she was still there, the drink cupped in her hand. She was staring down into it completely in her own world.

"Still here?" he said. It came out harsh and stern, as if he were telling her to leave. He couldn't help but stand up a little for Casey since Rebecca had done her so wrong.

"I'm sorry" she said, still staring into the cup. "I'm just...you're the only person I really know here. I mean, I don't really know you, but I know who you are through Casey"  
Her name stung Cappie, jolting him further into his anger.

"Why are you here, then?"

She smiled, but her eyes still seemed sad. Suddenly she look up at him and, as quietly as possible, she sighed.  
"I guess I just. I belong...I mean here as much as I...belong here as much as I belong there, right?" Looking at her, he realized she was already fairly tipsy. Her words had come out in a stream that he had to untangle to make out what she was saying.  
"Aren't you like, the ZBZ prototype?" Cappie asked, looking at her pristine outfit.

"No" she said, looking right into his eyes. "I'm not. I came to college and thought that I could be who I wanted to. I thought I could wear sweatpants and sleep through class and eat popcorn with friends. But that's not what ZBZ is about. I have this thing...I always try to impress people. Not, I mean, not make them like me really...but respect me. I guess I got it from my Dad. So, I wake up in the morning and I feel like I want to wear a big T-shirt and some workout shorts, but when I put them on, I don't have the courage to go out. I feel like if people see a crack in me they'll just try to get at it and tear me down. It feels like a frilly warzone" She looked up again and saw that Cappie had leaned against the bar, looking away. "Sorry" she said, embaressed. "You just seem to be more, I don't know...flippant about it. About what people think of you. And, they still love you"  
Cappie realized she was right. He felt a little proud for a second, but he also felt for Rebecca. He hadn't really realized she was a real person. He racked his brain, trying to be angry at her again. Once he found that anger he unleashed it on her.

"Well, I guess it's not a great welcoming gift to sleep with someone's boyfriend"

"People keep saying that. It's really not fair" now she was angry. The cold shell that he usually saw around her had returned." I mean, I didn't even know he had a girlfriend until afterwards. He never mentioned her. Casey's always the victim, right? Well, she's the one who just forgave Evan and hates me even though HE'S the one who fucked up. It's retarded. He's the one who should be in trouble. Who people should hate. She's the one who should be embarrassed. She's the one who couldn't...couldn't...whatever. Fuck it"

Cappie knew she was right and they'd both finished their drinks so he quickly grabbed the bottle and walked outside.

"You coming or what?" he asked as he opened the door to the backyard.

Her face lit up as she followed him outside to a picnic table. They swigged straight from the bottle. After a while, they lay table and swapped stories about their past, his involving crazy hippie parents and hers involving conservative cleancut ones. Though they were totally different, they seemed to bond over a joint feeling of spite that their parents had given them a life devoid of "normalcy". Each had spent a lot of their childhood just wanting to be an average kid. They laughed and their cheeks flushed with whiskey and maybe a little more. Cappie could feel himself looking more at Rebecca's lips and chest...at the strong muscles of her arms.

"I have to stop getting crushes on Casey's boys" she said, giggling. She was so drunk now, she didn't even known what she was saying.

"Good thing I'm not Casey's" Cappie leaned towards her. Even as he said it it wasn't true. Saying that made him realize how true it was. He WAS Casey's. He felt like his relationship with Casey was a burning building...he just had to find some way to escape. As he looked down at Rebecca, he began to see her lips, opening ever so slightly like a cracked window.

He took his chance and grabbed her lower lip between his, sucking on it gently. As Rebecca tiled her head and deepened the kiss, Cappie closed his eyes and tried his best not to pretend he was kissing Casey. It almost worked.

**Okay, this is my first fan fic. Tell me what you think... if you like it I'll keep writing. There should be more CC in coming chapters...just to stir things up a little!**


	2. Bring Me Sunshine

Chapter Two

**"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams."**

**Jeremy Irons**

There were two things Cappie immediately noticed when he woke up. One was, of course, Rebecca's arm across his chest. He never thought she was the type to cuddle. The second thing he noticed was that his phone was vibrating underneath his back. What time was it? It couldn't be before nine. He grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. SPITTER it read in big bright letters. Pledges always seemed to know exactly when Cappie was in the middle of something like sleeping or sleeping with someone. They seemed to know this and call anyway. Didn't they understand that it just wasn't normal to call someone this early?

Cappie glanced over at the large clock on his desk and squinted to read the letters through the haze of his hangover and crusty morning eyes. 2:14 it read. 2:14...p.m? Shit. Shit. Shit. Spitter was leaving at two and Cappie hadn't even said goodbye. No wonder he was calling. He really needed to tell Casey bye too, just to clear the air before break. Okay, he was actually MOSTLY thinking about Casey and how Spitter could facilitate that. Spitter always seemed down to play matchmaker for them since their connection was just as obvious to him as it was to the rest of Cyprus Rhodes. Cappie slid Rebecca's hand off of his back and crawled slowly, carefully out of the bed as he had a million one night stands before. He quickly grabbed a Tshirt from his floor and threw it over his head. Grabbing some jeans, he walked out of his room and ran down the stairs.

"You might wanna put those on first"

Cappie whipped around to see Spitter standing in the breezeway, cool as a cucumber.

"You know Cappie, certain societies believe that the best way to sleep is in hour increments spread throughout the day. They say you experience the whole range of life that way" Spitter always had a way of throwing out little bites of information that was so fitting, but so terribly nerdy. It reminded Cappie a lot of himself.

"That's why they invented college classes Spitter. They're like bedtime stories. Very expensive bedtime stories"

They both laughed as Cappie grabbed a bag and helped him lug his stuff outside to meet Casey. As he opened the door he saw Casey's bright red car and all the things he had planned to say to her, all the thought out tidbits to make everything okay were gone. He just stood there, awkward and still. As Casey glanced over at him, he managed an awkward wave, his lips pursed tightly into a smile that felt like someone else's. He stayed there awhile after the car was gone, staring at the place where it had been.

His thoughts drifted to the day he had helped Casey pick out the little red car. He had bought a cherry pie that day to match it and given her a 20 cherry car fresheners so that she'd r always remember their pie dates. Their relationship had already been in trouble and he had hoped they would help remind her of him. She broke up with him two weeks later. He wondered now if she still had one dangling from the mirror. He cursed himself for not checking. Staring at the spot a moment longer, he knew it would get under his skin if he didn't find out, so he pulled out his phone and quickly texted Spitter.

_Spitter.Dont mention2 casey. is ther a cherry air freshner n her car?_

Cappie waited for a moment, kicking an old cup between his feet. When he started to feel the sweat dripping down his back, he slowly turned and walked back inside. It had only been about thirty minutes since he'd woken up, but it'd felt like forever in the heat. He quickly grabbed a bagel and a gallon of juice from the fridge, carrying both upstairs to his room.

As he opened the door, he saw Rebecca sitting in his bed lazily flipping through the copy of Jailbird from his desk. She was only wearing one of his oversized button ups as far as he could tell and her hair was down and in her face as it rarely was. She looked great. Cool and fun and chill. Cappie smiled and secretly cursed himself for not grabbing two bagels. The smile faded a bit when he got closer to her face. He realized she had already put on all her makeup. She was wearing tons of eyeliner and different lipstick than the night before. Cappie always loved Casey because she would wear nothing on her face and look amazing. Still take his breath away. Maybe he was being too hard on her.

"What took so long? Did you shower?" asked Rebecca slowly, not looking up from the book.

"Just thought I'd grab us some breakfast"

Rebecca laughed, making hair fall in her face. "That's a bagel" she squinched her nose. "Not much prep time. "

She decided to drop the subject.

"What are we gonna do with one bagel?"

"Well, I figured one half for me" Cappie smiled and stuffed half of it in his mouth, biting through.

"Zchfe ufferrr haffff fooo yuhooo" he tried to speak through the huge bite in his mouth.

"The other half for me?" she asked sweetly. She took it from him gingerly and twirled it in her hands for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Finally she took one end and stuck it into her mouth, towards the back of her throat suggestively. Her eyes look right into his.

"That's just vulgar missy" he laughed, taking off his shirt and pouncing onto the bed next to her.

He leaned towards her face and bit off the part of the bagel that was still sticking out of her mouth. She swallowed the rest and gave a fake pout.

"You said half and half" she said tickling him.

"I'll...I'll make it up to you...", he said, unbuttoning her shirt slowly. As he reached the last button, his phone began to buzz on his desk. Those pledges. They always knew. Worst time to call. Worst time to text.

"You gonna get that?" Rebecca asked, following his anxious eyes to the phone

"No, I'm fine" he said. He started to take off her shirt but he was no longer smiling and his eyes weren't really focusing on her.

"Just check it. Really. It's fine" Anger crept into Rebecca's voice as she pulled the shirt back around her. She was obviously used to undivided attention at such times.

Cappie reached for the phone and opened Spitter's text as quickly as he could.

"Why are you smiling? What's up?" Rebecca asked, reaching for a boy who no longer seemed to even be in the room.

"I just got some really good news from Spitter" was all he could think to tell her.

**Okay, so that's chapter 2. Kind of short, but I updated pretty quick so... oh, and leave some comments if you like this plzzz. I'm thinkin' of scrappin' it.**


	3. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

**Finally, A Little CC**

Chapter 3

**_The Magic of first love is our ignorance that it can never end- Benjamin Disraeli_**

Cappie sat at Dobblers, nursing the same beer he had started an hour ago. Rebecca was supposed to meet him here, but she still hadn't shown up. He had already called her a few times, but found himself more and more frustrated each time he got her voicemail. This was their first meeting since the beginning of break and part of him was hoping it would become more than just a fling, even if just to finally get over Casey. This was a new semester and one of his main New Years Resolutions was to leave Casey behind. Sure, she wasn't with Evan anymore, but he left her. What if he was just a rebound...a payback...He couldn't stand going through that again. They weren't meant for each other. They were too different. Cappie wasn't ready to-

That was when she walked in. Her skin was lightly tanned from vacation, making her blonde hair pop even more. She was wearing a white dress with sporty red polka dots and a small red shrug. She looked nervous and her eyes darted around the bar as she scratched her upper arm. Cappie tried to fill his head with images of Rebecca. Her perfect skin, the small of her back. It was all gone. Every image he tried to bring up of Rebecca in that moment refused to come. All he could feel,all he could experience, was Casey walking towards him. She smiled and waved. Suddenly, all Cappie could think to do was chug his beer and order a lemon drop. The waiter finished the drink just as Casey reached the bar.

"I got you somthing" Cappie said, trying his best at being cool.

"Cappie...I really can't" Casey was smiling, but her words gave away how nervous she was.

"You need it more than I thought" laughed Cappie, handing her the drink.

"Oh, right. I thought you meant..." Casey quickly downed the drink. Cappie raised his hand for another cursing himself for playing like that.

"And how was my little Spitter over break?" Cappie quickly changed the subject.

"Good. I still don't understand why you call him that"  
"Well, it gets under your skin. That's enough, I guess"

"Why do you always wanna do that? Get under my skin like that?" Casey asked, twirling her second drink.

"I just want to get under anything you'll let me" Cappie winked, turning so that she couldn't see his face turn red. He turned back when he heard a crash. Casey's drink lay on the floor, its contents splashed up onto her dress. Maybe he'd gone a little far.

"I'm so sorry Casey. I just. I thought...and..." Cappie pawed at the bottom of her dress, trying to get the stain out.

"It's fine Cappie, really" Casey grabbed his hand to stop. When she did, a tiny jolt moved through both of them. It traveled up from the small of Cappie's back and moved up through his muscles until it spread across his back and through both his arms. He squeezed Casey's arms and she felt it too. They dropped hands quickly, backing up a step. They each knew. They had each felt that electricity.

"Let's get you out of-into some clean clothes" Cappie said, correcting himself so he didn't scare her again.

"Sure. ZBZ is still closed. I was gonna crash at Ashley's but I think she's at dinner"

"With who?"

"Some guy she met over break. Puerto Rican, I think. He seems cool. I think he's a bartender"

"Cool" Cappie said, placing his hands on the small of her back to lead her to her car.

They always took her car. It was a lot nicer than his. As he opened her door he leaned down and looked at the cherry air freshner hanging below the mirror. He smiled and shut her door, walking around to the other side and thanking God Casey had spilled her drink.

"I have some big T shirts and shorts you can borrow" Cappie offered, knowing his clothes would swallow her but offering anyway.

"It's fine. I have my clothes in the back"

"Great," Cappie said, but he wasn't giving up just yet. He knew the moment she left he would be a complete mess. He didn't want that moment to come anytime soon.

"But still, you should come back and change at Kappa Tau. You can just chill out and have a drink, watch some TV with the guys."

"That sounds perfect, " Casey smiled.

"I just have to grab one thing" Cappie motioned for her to pull into a supermarket. She eyed him suspiciously.

"It'll just take a minute" he promised. He ran down the aisles, grabbing a pumpkin pie and some whipped cream, his hands shaking. When he stepped towards the checkout, Casey had a magazine in her hand.

**HAZING AND DRINKING RAMPANT IN GREEK SYSTEM** it read.

"That fucking article" Casey said, tears welling in her eyes. Cappie couldn't stand seeing her like this. It actually hurt him. He couldn't believe she would have to deal with this national scandal.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. It's like, your first big challenge as president. After this everything'll seem easy"

"You're wrong." she choked.

He pulled her in for a hug, both feeling warm and complete for just a moment. Cappie could feel Casey calming down in his arms. He never wanted to let her. He wouldn't. Not for anything. Not unless-  
"Sir, is this all you'll be buying?" asked the checkout lady. She was a pimply thing, with bright pink lipstick and curly brown hair that exploded from her head. Casey and Cappie pulled away from their embrace. Casey looked down at the pie on the counter.

"Pumpkin Pie? We haven't had that since"  
"I know. Thanksgiving. "

"Why pumpkin?" she asked.

"What?"Cappie responded. He knew exactly what she said. He just wanted to be closer to her. Feel her warmth near him. Smell the vanilla scent of her hair mixed with the cinnamon of her gum. Their faces were very close now as Casey leaned forward and repeated herself.

"I said, why pumpkin?" Her eyes were darting from his eyes to his lips. Finally, after a brief silence, she reached her hand into his hair and grabbed a strand. He reached out to do the same but instead lightly brushed his finger under her right eye, wiping away a tear.

"Because, with the right help, you can always turn a pumpkin into a carriage" Cappie responded looking directly into her eyes.

They kissed right there, in the middle of the grocery store. They didn't care about all the people staring though. They'd never felt more at home.


End file.
